Octree-based hierarchical encoding for video conferencing

We introduce a new scalable video encoding technique which, is geared to support video communication over unreliable channels. Our video encoding technique is based on the octree representation of frames and vector quantization. The algorithms divides the video sequence into blocks and then cubes, which are encoded as a three-dimensional entity. Then, we apply a mean-removal algorithm on each block separately. Then, we generate the octree for each block and use vector quantization to compress the octree data. This resulting encoding is both highly scalable and robust. We make use of the temporal dependency between frames by using a three-dimensional encoding. We show that this encoding is time-efficient to generate and gives a very good compression ratio. In addition, we demonstrate its ability to tolerate and conceal communication errors. Moreover, we illustrate the ability of our encoding technique to react to changing network traffic patterns. The new encoding technique, besides its simplicity and effectiveness, proved to perform well with respect to both scalability and robustness attributes.